For many years, iced tea has been a popular alternative beverage to coffee or soft drinks. Of those people who drink iced tea, many prefer freshly brewed iced tea to packaged powdered mixes (commonly referred to as "instant tea") in that they consider the flavor of freshly brewed tea superior to packaged powdered mixes while others have preference for teas not generally available in packaged powdered form (e.g. herb tea or exotic teas). For some people, however, the preparation of fresh iced tea (i.e. the brewing and chilling of the tea) represents too much of an inconvenience and bother. Thus, it is desirable to provide a device which will provide freshly brewed iced tea in a quick, convenient manner.
To this end, it has been known to use microwave energy to quickly prepare foods and beverages such as coffee and the like. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,589,272 to Bouladon; 4,104,957 to Friedman, et al.; 4,381,696 to Koral; 4,386,109 to Bowin, et al.; and 4,642,443 to Jorgensen, et al. each disclose an appliance for brewing coffee or the like in a microwave oven. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,999,470 to Fuchs and 4,721,835 to Welker disclose microwave devices providing single servings of hot coffee or hot tea. None of the aforementioned patents, however, disclose a device capable of preparing freshly brewed iced tea in a microwave oven.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the above-identified patents and provides a device for automatically preparing freshly brewed iced tea using microwave energy.